Belgium Beats Brazil!

This morning I woke up to a bunch of messages from Michel, all photos that were altered to express Belgium's defeat of Brazil in the World Cup. This one was my fave:

(En doe de groetjes thuis! Literally it translates to And give little greetings home! In my opinion it roughly translates, in this case, to essentially "Send greetings home" or more likely, "So long, suckers - hit the bricks!")

Demon Dentist

Demon Dentist is my second David Walliams book so far and I am seriously loving his writing! I liked Gangsta Granny a bit more than this book, but mostly because all the scary dentistry stuff gave me the willies. After this I will definitely be getting Awful Auntie. I really think the powers-that-be need to turn Walliams' books into films. The stories are wonderful and the PG crowd will go nutty for them!

I got a postcard!!

Look what I got in the mail from lovely Lady Miss Maureen, all the way from Michigan. I feel absolutely giddy!

Miyoko's Stole My Heart

When I decided to go vegan I was most worried about butter. No more butter...then I discovered coconut oil based vegan butter and was instantly relieved. Then I learned about palm oil and was super disappointed to find that it was in all fake butters. I was at my favourite local health store and saw that they had a vegan butter that I had never seen before. It was marked $7.59 but on sale for $5.29. Kinda steep but I was intrigued. Then I read the back. Dairy free, non-GMO, made from coconut oil with no soy based oils (Baby's body does not like lots of soy), cashews (mmm....that's gotta be some damn creamy butter!), and then....in all caps NO PALM OIL. I bought one, tested it out and went back three days later and bought the rest of the supply. At this very moment I am on their website and signing up for the newsletter. I love that this is the summary for the vegan butter: Elevate all of your culinary adventures with our cultured vegan butter that will make everything taste better. Bake with it, cook with it, spread it, your life will never be the same. I so am gonna elevate my culinary adventures! I'm also looking forward to testing out some of Miyoko's fake cheeses as I'm in need of a decent grilled cheese sandwich right about now...

Once Upon a Dream

Personally, this house is too big to truly feed my realistic daydreams, but look at that porch! Oh it's just a gorgeous home and if I was a suburban career woman, wife and mother of four (Jacinda, Nadia, Brendan, and Atticus, of course) this would be the house I would desire above all others. Well, only if it had a decent backyard, fenced in, with a swing-set for six, a pond for ducks, trees for shade, neighbours that were several blocks away, and a roomy doghouse for our two rescued pit bulls, Astrid Eliza Buttercup and Special Agent Dale Cooper, or maybe just Scuttlebutt... 

(Architect: JB Architecture and Siena Custom Builders, Inc. - photo kidnapped from @sienacustombuilders on Instagram - photo by LandMark Photography - home located in Naperville, Illinois - built and designed in 2007)

Missing Donna

Stumbling upon a video of my cousin Donna that was recorded on my thirtieth birthday was like uncovering a buried treasure. It was seven years before her death and Donna has her usual blah voice that is completely devoid of any feeling, but that lil' smirk at the end is representative of the essence of her goodness. She was in discomfort a lot of the time, both physical and psychologically, but seeing both sides of her captured on film for even the briefest of seconds is an utter jewel.

Miss Avery Rose, Cutie Patootie

Ashlee sent me these pix of her wee one and she is too sweet for words!